Heineken Prize Lecture by William Laurance 'Islands of Survival: Long-Term Changes and Threats in the World's Tropical Protected Areas'

Abstract of the lecture

Many of the world’s leading tropical protected areas are now fragments or man-made islands surrounded by drastically modified landscapes. Even some of the historically most-remote sites suffer from hunting and other forms of human encroachment. Will these protected areas function as arks to help conserve tropical biodiversity, or are the arks sinking? Moreover, does each protected area face a unique suite of threats, or do they suffer from common drivers of change? Using data from >260 expert interviews, I will assess long-term shifts in biodiversity and ecosystem processes and identify their potential drivers in 60 key protected areas stratified across the American, Asia-Pacific and African tropics. These findings have potentially vital implications for the future of tropical biodiversity.